Notre Dame controlled the clock and the ball in the first half, but LSU scored the final 27 points of the game en route to a 41-14 victory, handing Notre Dame's its ninth consecutive bowl loss.

Notre Dame's average margin of defeat in its last five bowl games is 22.4 points, and this one was the most lopsided since Bob Davie's squad fell 41-9 in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl.

"We're really disappointed with how the game turned out," said Irish head coach Charlie Weis. "Give credit to LSU. After that touchdown with two minutes to go in the first half, for the rest of the game, they really laid the wood to us."

Notre Dame controlled the football for nearly 20 of the first 30 minutes of the game and ran 50 plays to LSU's 26 in the first half. But a touchdown with 1:15 left in the second quarter gave the Tigers a 21-14 halftime lead, and they went on to out-score the Irish 20-0 in the second half while racking up 577 yards total offense.

Notre Dame allowed 617 yards total offense in a 14-point loss to Ohio State in last year's Fiesta Bowl.